Table 1.

List of early maladaptive schemas

Early maladaptive schemas	Description
Disconnection and rejection	Belief that one’s needs for safety, stability, security, empathy, respect and acceptance will not be met.
Emotional Deprivation	A belief and expectation that other people will be unable to meet one’s emotional needs.
Abandonment	The belief that close, loved others will be lost emotionally and physically.
Mistrust/Abuse	The belief that other people will harm, abuse, or take advantage of you in some way.
Social Isolation	A belief that one different from other people and not a part of any group/community.
Defectiveness	A belief one is unlovable/insignificant due to being bad, inferior, or invalid.
Impaired autonomy and performance	Beliefs that interfere with one’s ability to survive, separate, perform successfully, and function independent of other people
Failure	A belief that one has failed in important areas of life or will eventually fail.
Dependence	A belief that one is unable to handle everyday responsibilities without the help of others.
Vulnerability	A belief that bad things will happen and one cannot do anything to prevent it or cope with it.
Enmeshment	A belief that one cannot be happy or survive without being constantly supported by close others.
Impaired Limits	Inability to form long-term goals and a lack of responsibility to others; difficulty respecting and cooperating with others.
Entitlement	A belief that one is entitled to special rights and is better that other people.
Insufficient self-control	Difficulty refraining from engaging in impulsive behaviour and thinking of long-term consequences.
Other-Directedness	Excessive focus on the needs, feelings and desires of other people.
Subjugation	A belief that one is controlled by other and that one’s own feelings/opinions is not important or valid.
Self-sacrifice	A belief that one must voluntarily meet the needs of other people.
Approval-seeking	A belief that one’s sense of self is dependent on other people liking you.
Overvigilance and inhibition	Focus on suppressing one’s feelings and impulses; high standards of performance and ethical behaviour.
Emotional inhibition	A belief that one should not express feelings/emotions.
Unrelenting standards	A belief that one must meet excessively high internalized standards of behaviour.
Negativity/pessimism	A constant focus on the negative aspects of life.
Punitiveness	A belief that self and other should be punished for mistakes.

Schema domain names are presented in bold. Reprinted with permission from (Shorey, Stuart, & Anderson, 2012).